T-shirts

Lately I've been sewing t-shirts for me and my boy.
I had purchased several jerseys, organic some of them, and decided to start making them and try to figure out what is the best neck procedure.
For me, I have been using my Universal T-shirt pattern, which I took form a Patrones magazine some years ago, and used a zillion times. For Carlos I used the rub off method to copy his favourite long-sleeved t-shirt.

Striped viscose jersey bought in Telas.com. Here I used my classic neck procedure: put a bias band around the neck, right to right side, machine stitch it, turn it towards the inside folding it in itself and sanwiching the little seam allowance. Then, I handsewed it with an invisible backstitch. Pretty good method for dressy t-shirts.

Black organich cotton from Ecological Textiles. Same procedure, but here I applied the bias strip on the worng side, turned it towards the front and machine stitch it with the double needle. Pretty good, but not perfect, it gaps a little.

This is some cheap knit I had in my statsh since last year. I don't like growing a big stash, so let's clean it up! For the neck, I applied a bias strip right to right, turned it to the inside, hold in in place with pins and finish with the double needle. It also gaps, so I start hating the double needle for necks, as I suspected it pulls the fabric.

 

Organic cotton from Only organic: soft and nice to the touch. This was a mistake in my order, so I decided to make the best off it. I bought some ellasticated lace and applied it in the sleeves, simply sewing it together, cutting it around its flowers and machine sewing it on the cotton. I used a double needle machine straight stitch forthe sleeves and body bottoms. 

 As for the neck, I decided to make a V-shaped neck with organic black cotton. First you machine sew  a V shape in the middle of  a 5 cm wide bias strip. Press it flat and apply it to the t-shirt's neck as if sandwiching it. Baste it and the machine sew it with the double needle. Pretty good if not for the double needle with black contrasting thread. If looked closely, it is not too straight. But still pretty good look!
Here I made some more research in the net, and I found an evidence that made me feel like and idiot: the neck strip has to be shorter than the t-shirt neck to avoid gaping!!! Of course!! How could I not see it for myself?! A blogger said 90% is a good rate, I think it could be even less, but one can pull the strip as you apply in over the t-shirt, and feel the right stretch. I started to apply this trick on this v-neck and it was wonderfully flat around my neck. EUREKA!  

I like the laced sleeves so well that I decided to make another version, and leave the lace alone to make it sheer. I used organic black cotton for the body. 

Here I applied my newfound trick to my classical neck method. Bias strip, right on right, turned towards the inside and hand sew it with an invisible back-stitch. The final result is almost perfect, but this time I cut the neck's shpae over the manequin, and the shape is too narrow in the front. I make a note of testing the shape over me before sewing it, because the manequin pull the fabric a little and the result is not the same.

Finally a couple of long-sleeved t-shirts for my man. Both are organic cotton (from sources mentioned above). In the black one I used my neck method but I did not stretch the bias strip and it is not tight enough. In the second I used the method most comercial t-shirts use: cut a strip 90 % shorter that the neck, apply it right to right, doubled in itserf,  turn it upwards, press, and machine stitch it with the double needle (which does not stretch the fabric after all). The result is quite good for sporty t-shirts.